3pm update

Undercover operation busts mafia family

US law enforcement officers busted New York's largest mafia outfit yesterday, arresting 73 people including a sizeable number of alleged members of the Genovese crime family, in what the FBI is calling one of the most successful undercover operations in US history.

Federal prosecutors issued indictments yesterday of dozens of people on charges including racketeering and other illegal activities that brought in $14m (£10m) this year.

The FBI said the arrests took in the "middle management and the rank and file" of the Genovese family, the largest of New York City's five crime families.

The charges yesterday were the second major setback this year for the Genovese family. In April, federal authorities arrested 45 reputed gangsters, including 33 alleged Genovese members and associates, in raids in New York, Florida and Nevada.

The family stole millions of dollars through loansharking, extortion, embezzlement, labour racketeering, credit card fraud, attempted bank fraud and gambling - crimes that led to conspiracy and racketeering charges, the prosecutor said.

If convicted, some defendants would face as little as five years in prison while others would face hundreds of years. One could face up to 530 years.

The agency credited the work of a lone detective with the arrests of the 73 defendents, which included 34 alleged members or associates of the Genovese mafia.

The FBI assistant director, Barry Mawn, called the three-year investigation "perhaps the most significant and successful undercover operation in law enforcement history".

He noted the work of the undercover detective, who sat in on weekly mob meetings, winning trust by seemingly making money through illegal cigarette sales and other crimes.

Mr Mawn said the detective, who had to eventually be moved out of state for his safety, "was extremely proficient at his job, was very taken in by the bad guys here".

"These charges are the result of another highly successful infiltration of the Genovese family by the organized crime task force, this time by an undercover police detective, who I commend highly for having risked his safety on almost a daily basis," Mr Mawn said.

He said the arrests proved the mob could not assume that because of the September 11 terrorist attacks, "the FBI and its law enforcement partners have been distracted and have suspended their investigation of organised crime activities".

The detective, who was not identified in court papers or at a news conference, teamed with co-operating witnesses to help thwart some crimes, including a plot to steal $6m (£4.5m) in payroll money from The New York Times, authorities said.

The planned armed robbery - which never took place - was designed to be carried out with help from a man who had worked at a Times plant and a former police officer who retired from the department in 1976, authorities said.

Despite a two-decade-long crackdown on organised crime that had decimated other Mafia families, the Genovese family had flourished because it avoided gathering attention to itself with violence, US attorney Mary Jo White said.